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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Gregg Williams and Pete Rose

In an earlier post, Onlooker Slowdown reported on the case of Gregg Williams, currently the St. Louis Rams' defensive coordinator but also an alleged creator of a bounty system with the New Orleans Saints, and possibly with other teams as well, that rewarded defensive players at different financial levels, going as high as $1500, for hits that injured opponents (with bonuses if the medical personnel had to take the player off with a cart).

As has been widely reported, the NFL has come down with extremely firm penalties for the personnel involved. Williams has been banned for at least a year but is currently under indefinite suspension. Saints head coach Sean Payton has also been suspended for the entire 2012 season, because he was told about the program, was told to stop it, and did not. General manager Mickey Loomis has been suspended for a half-season. The team has been fined $500,000 and has lost draft choices in 2012 and 2013.

There is some ambiguity about the appeals process. Commissioner Goodell believes that he will be the one to whom appeals go, even though he handed down the punishment, based on the new conduct policy. There is a loophole that may push the appeals to a special master.

As long as Pete Rose is kept far away from baseball, Gregg Williams should not get back on a football field. It was wrong for Pete Rose to gamble on his team's games. It did affect the integrity of the games.

However, Rose never ordered any of his players to injure opponents. Football is an aggressive sport. Malicious injuries, though, should never be part of this aggression. This malice affects the integrity of the games, and the disregard that Coach Williams showed for his opponents shows such poor character that he should find another profession. Immediately.